/*******************************************************************************
 * The MIT License
 * 
 * Copyright (c) 2011 David Waltermire
 * 
 * Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
 * of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
 * in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
 * to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
 * copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
 * furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
 * 
 * The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in
 * all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
 * 
 * THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
 * IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
 * FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
 * AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
 * LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
 * OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN
 * THE SOFTWARE.
 ******************************************************************************/
package org.scapdev.content.model;

import java.util.Collection;
import java.util.regex.Pattern;

/**
 * This interface represents information about an external identifier defined
 * within the meta model.
 */
public interface ExternalIdentifierInfo {
	/**
	 * Retrieves the id of the external identifier within the metadata model
	 * 
	 * @return the id of the external identifier
	 */
	String getId();

	/**
	 * Retrieves an unordered collection of identifier patterns that can be used
	 * to verify that a string is an instance of the external identifier.
	 * 
	 * @return
	 */
	Collection<Pattern> getPattern();
}
